Government and academia: How government can better engage with researchers

Policy making is at its best when it is open to external evidence, insight and expertise. Government has made great strides in opening itself up to inputs from the UK’s world-leading university sector – but it can do still more.

The Institute’s latest report explores how government–academia interchange has evolved in recent years, and how the civil service could be even more effective in sourcing the best evidence to inform decision making.

Our paper argues that departments being clearer about their researcher engagement strategies – what they want from researchers, how they can feed into departmental work, and how different routes for engagement join up – can improve evidence flows and make it easier for officials to seek expertise when they need it.

Our main report is accompanied by five deep dives looking in greater depth at a series of mechanisms UK central government uses to engage with the research community and how those have evolved in recent years.

The IfG Academy uses the Institute’s expertise to support researchers in sharing their expertise with government. Learn more about our learning and development offer.